Rand Paul says he'll block CIA nominee

Sen. Rand Paul plans to block John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA until he more fully lays out his views about the executive branch’s authority over its drones policy.

Paul said he would place a hold on the nomination until Brennan declares whether he believes the United States has the authority to use unmanned drones to conduct targeting killings of Americans — in the United States.

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If Brennan and the White House refuse to provide the information, Paul said that he would object to efforts to schedule a vote, a move that would require Democrats to find 60 votes to advance the nomination.

“I’m going to object in any way we can until we find out whether or not the head of the CIA claims the authority to kill Americans without a trail with a drone in America,” Paul, the libertarian-minded conservative, told POLITICO. “You would think the notion of that is so bizarre and absurd that he would immediately say no.”

Paul’s objection would make Brennan the second nomination on Obama’s national team to hit a snag in the Senate. Republicans are threatening to block Chuck Hagel’s nomination to become the next defense secretary until the White House provides more information about several issues, including the president’s handling of last year’s deadly attacks in Benghazi.

Democrats almost certainly would have the votes to break both a filibuster to confirm Hagel and Brennan. But the moves would be extraordinary and amount to a new front in the procedural wars that have consumed the Senate in recent years since Cabinet-level nominees rarely require 60 votes to overcome a threatened filibuster. Only two in history have so far been required to clear a cloture vote.

But Republicans insist it’s fair to use their leverage to force the administration to cough up more information.

Paul said he was not yet satisfied with Brennan after he failed to clearly state his views under questioning from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) during last week’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.